I appreciate that the owners of the Wealthy Theatre are keeping it around and maintaining it for the good of the community. Whoever renovated it did a great job and I am glad that such an old theatre could be preserved for at least this generation. It's a great building.
I also like that they do community events and things to bring people together. They hosted a kind of independent musical there (although I didn't go I heard great things) and frequently host community events/meetings.
However, I really miss the $2 second-run movies that they used to show. Grand Rapids used to have a few second-run movie theatres, then it was just the Wealthy Theatre, and now there are none. This is very unfortunate. I think that second-run theatres would be a great use of the facility if they would only market them better. It can hold many people and would be a great way to get kids in off the streets in a cheap manner. We moved to the neighborhood 3 years ago when they were still doing these movies, and really had a great time - and also liked the fact that we were supporting our community.
I think that Wealthy Theatre could be at the top of its game if it brought back cheap second-run movies.
more